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In the News – Kim Jong-un ‘Watched Long-Range Missile Launch’

Korean Central Television on Sunday, North Korea’s new leader Kim Jong-un appears in a military vehicle (top) and a helicopter at an undisclosed place in North Korea. /KCTV-Yonhap”]North Korean state TV marked new leader Kim Jong-un’s birthday on Sunday with a documentary that claimed he watched the launch of a long-range missile alongside his late father Kim Jong-il in April 2009.

The 50-minute film focusing on Kim junior’s so-called on-the-spot guidance tours said he accompanied his father during a visit to the control center for the launch of the Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite. The launch of the fictitious satellite was a thin cover for what is widely believed to be an attempt to test a long-range missile.

The North’s state-run Korean Central Television said Kim Jong-un was determined to wage war “if the enemy should intercept” the missile and commanded the Army, Navy and Air Force because he was in charge of the military’s anti-rocket interception operations.

Seoul has recently switched to a conciliatory policy toward the North because it believes that Kim Jong-un was not directly involved in the North’s past provocations, but now the state media in the North are making it sound as if he was deeply engaged in the regime’s development of long-range missiles.

The film also included other martial footage of Kim Jong-un, riding a tank during his visit to the 105th Seoul Ryu Kyong-su Guards Tank Division on Jan. 5, 2010, sitting in a fighter jet, a naval ship, and a military vehicle.

There were no special events to celebrate Kim junior’s birthday. However, North Korean workers did not work overtime on Sunday at the joint Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex.

The Unification Ministry said the North “told South Korean firms at the industrial park that North Korean workers wouldn’t work extra hours the whole day Sunday.” North Koreans get two days off each on regime founder Kim Il-sung’s birthday on April 15 and Kim Jong-il’s birthday on Feb. 16.